Avatar The Last Airbender

The Avatar State is a defense mechanism, in which an Avatar may freely access the knowledge and powers of all previous Avatars. This provides the Avatar with great powers, as well as mastery over all four elements (even if the Avatar has not yet learned all four bending disciplines). It was by entering the Avatar State that Aang was able to freeze himself and Appa into an iceberg for 100 years, by using a combination of Airbending and Waterbending. While in the Avatar State, the Avatar's eyes glow (as do their arrow tattoos in the case of Avatars from the Air Nomads).

It is possible for an Avatar to control the Avatar State, as Roku and Kyoshi have demonstrated in numerous flashbacks, but this requires great spiritual discipline and concentration (Guru Pathik attempted to teach Aang to control the Avatar State by helping him clear his chakras but Aang could not let go of Katara in exchange for cosmic power). More often, however, the Avatar State is activated by danger or emotional turmoil. In "The Southern Air Temple", Aang inadvertently enters the Avatar State when he discovers that his friend and teacher, Monk Gyatso, was killed by Fire Nation soldiers; in "The Avatar State", Aang entered the Avatar State when General Fong placed Katara in danger.

It is possible for an Avatar to channel a specific previous incarnation while in the Avatar State. When this happens, the Avatar briefly takes on the appearance and voice of that previous incarnation. Aang has done this on several occasions, channeling Roku in "Winter Solstice Part 2: Avatar Roku" and "The Deserter", and Kyoshi in "Avatar Day".

Since the Avatar State draws its power from the knowledge and skills of all the past Avatars therefore it is safe to assume that for each succeeding Avatar, the Avatar State becomes an even more powerful tool.

The Avatar State also allows an Avatar to join with certain spirits. This was demonstrated in the episode "The Siege of the North, Part 2", when Aang enters the Avatar State in order to aid the frantic Ocean Spirit. Both Aang in his Avatar State and the Ocean Spirit combine their abilities to defend the Northern Water Tribe after all Waterbenders are rendered defenseless.

This is the second time we hear Aang speak in the State, the first being when he met with Roku during the Winter Solstice. His voice sounds like a cross between a few different voices at once, the main two being his normal, and a deeper, somewhat demonic sounding version (possibly the voices of past Avatars).

While Aang is pretty much invincible in the Avatar State, having eons of bending experience which can surpass an army of benders, there is one grave weakness. If someone does manage to kill Aang while he is in the Avatar State, the cycle will be permanently broken, and the Avatar will not reincarnate (learned from Roku in the episode "The Avatar State"). Known Times the Avatar State Was Used

• 100 years previously, Aang used it to save himself and Appa from their fall into the ocean. Both were sealed into an ice encrusted air pocket that eventually froze into an iceberg.
• Aang used it in the episode "The Avatar Returns" to escape another fall into the ocean and to stop Zuko. He Waterbends a water spout in the form of a twister.
• In the episode "The Southern Air Temple", Aang falls into it the State after witnessing the skeleton of his former mentor and foster father Monk Gyatso. He airbends a small hurricane in his emotional distress.
• In the episode "Winter Solstice Part 2: Avatar Roku", Aang meets Avatar Roku in the fire temple. Roku helped him and friends escape by directly taking over Aang's body and activating the volcano underneath the temple.
• In the episode "The Storm", Aang enters the state after saving Sokka and a fisherman, rounding up everyone that fell into the ocean and pulling them out of the water into the calmness of the storm's eye.
• In the episode "The Siege of the North, Part 2", Aang combines power with the spirit of the Ocean, La, after all Waterbenders are rendered powerless.
• In the episode "The Avatar State", Aang enters the Avatar State when the Earthbending General, uses Earthbending to bury Katara underground to force Aang into the Avatar State. He uses airbending to knock the general to the floor, rises into the air on a tornado, and crashes down to the earth, releasing a powerful earthbending attack on the general, his guards, and his fortress. A small air sphere surrounds Aang before the spirit of Avatar Roku takes him to the Spirit World to explain to him about the true nature of the Avatar State.
• In the episode "Avatar Day", we see Avatar Kyoshi enter the Avatar State in a flashback. In the Avatar State, Kyoshi splits her home land from the mainland creating Kyoshi Island.
• In the episode "The Desert", Aang enters the Avatar State while confronting Appa's kidnappers (a group of Sandbenders). A large air sphere surrounds him, lifting him up into the air, but is brought down by Katara, who grabs his arm and embraces him.
• In the episode "The Crossroads of Destiny", Aang finally is willing to give up Katara to open the last chakra and willingly go into the Avatar State, but he is soon struck by lighting from Princess Azula.
• In the episode "The Avatar and the Fire Lord", the Avatar State is used many times by Avatar Roku. In flashbacks, Avatar Roku uses the Avatar State twice, first in a battle with Fire Lord Sozin, then as an attempt to stop a volcanic eruption.
• In the episode "Sozin's Comet, Part 4: Avatar Aang", Aang gains control and mastery over the Avatar State and uses it to defeat Phoenix King Ozai. Moments later, he uses it to raise the ocean to put out the fires from the fight, and lowers the ocean back.

THE GOOD

• The visuals were excellent overall. What really made it was the incredible attention to detail. There were an amazing number of animated elements that made it look more real.
  • The vistas were stunning, eliciting the sense of wonder that draws me to science fiction.
  • The CGI characters were very good. Certainly past the Uncanny Valley (if that could be said to exist with human-like aliens), though if you look closely at certain times you can see that the physics of their movement wasn't quite right.
  • The 3D was OK. There were a few scenes - particularly those with floating debris in the extreme foreground - where I felt like swatting the debris out of the way.
• Decent worldbuilding - We get to see many aspects of the Na'vi culture and Pandora itself.
• Sets a good example for how cool a military SciFi film could look. Those mecha-robots looked they jumped right off the cover of a Warhammer book.

THE BAD

• Clichéd - Maybe I've just seen too many films that feature an Evil Corporation. (Sigourney Weaver's presence only reminded me of The Company from Aliens.) And films about ravaging the land (with its accompanying New Age soundtrack). And the hero who disobeys orders to fight for what's "right". And the friends and foes who join together in the cause. And the inevitable love interest. And the inevitable confrontation with her betrothed. Etc.
  • Two-dimensional, archetypical characters. Sympathetic hero? Check. Tough Military superior? Check. Heartless corporate suit? Check. Jealous boyfriend? Check. I had hoped that the wheelchair-bound Sully getting his Avatar legs would be a bigger part of the film and would lend the character some depth. It wasn't and it didn't.
  • Unobtainium? Really? I get the in-joke, but the name is too much a part of that joke to skip past it without wincing.
• Predictable - Every single plot point was visible long before it actually happened.
• Awkward dialogue. "Shut your pie-hole?" Seriously?
• Bad science - Ignoring the fact that much of the science behind the Avatar project was a lot of handwaving, some things were just downright silly:
  • I get that Pandora's gravity is less than that of Earth, but what's up with floating mountains? I mean, the planet has working waterfalls and floating mountains?
  • Near the end of the film, the Major falls from a ship from very high up. I don't care if he was in a mecha-robot - the impact would have killed him.

BOTTOM LINE: Excellent visuals but it has lackluster story. It's on par with the Star Wars prequels; great eye candy, but not much more beyond that.